Vietnam’s paper and palm oil imports from Indonesia are expected to grow 30 per cent this year, according to information released at the “Vietnam-Indonesia: Strengthening Paper and Palm Oil Import and Export Cooperation” held by the Indonesian Embassy in Vietnam on July 27.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), paper was the largest item Vietnam imported from Indonesia last year, worth $181 million, followed by vegetable oil, worth $161 million.

In the first five months of this year, paper imports from Indonesia grew sharply, at 52.9 per cent year-on-year.

Paper and palm oil are both strengths of Indonesia. Mr. Pham Quoc Manh from the Indonesian Embassy said the country is ranked 14th in the world in terms of paper exports, valued at $3.2 billion last year. It ranked first in palm oil exports, with 36 million tons and accounting for 62 per cent of the world’s total.

Seventy per cent of materials for the production of vegetable oil in Vietnam comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. “In recent years, Indonesia’s export of paper and palm oil to Vietnam have increased sharply, indicating that demand in Vietnam is huge,” Mr. Manh said. “This represents an opportunity for Indonesian businesses.”

Many Vietnamese enterprises at the conference expressed an interest in Indonesia’s paper and palm oil industries, with some hoping to cooperate with Indonesian enterprises.

Mr. Phan Trong Dat, CEO of the Tuyen Quang Paper Company, said that Indonesia has much potential to develop its paper products and for this reason hopes to cooperate with partners from the country in trade and technology transfer.

Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Ibnu Hadi, said that relations between Vietnam and Indonesia have been growing. In 2016, two-way trade reached $5.6 billion and the two sides have agreed to lift the figure to $10 billion in 2018. Bilateral trade revenue is expected to reach $7.8 billion this year.

In order to strengthen cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia, the Ambassador said, especially as the ASEAN Economic Community has been formed and the region has experienced significant changes, the two sides should increase the exchange of information and investment promotions as well as connectivity among businesses, improving the competitiveness of ASEAN enterprises.